


On Our Island In the Blue Bay

by irelandhoneybee



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, In Which Matt Discovers the Calming Powers of The Great British Bake Off, Karedevil on Vacation, Post Season 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-10-04 21:35:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20477840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/irelandhoneybee/pseuds/irelandhoneybee
Summary: Karen wins a free trip to Antigua and is a little worried Matt won't want to leave Hell's Kitchen, but it turns out he is not opposed to taking a vacation





	On Our Island In the Blue Bay

**Author's Note:**

> Huge thanks to my beta readers, LilyEllison (extra thanks for catching my Walgreens/Duane Reade mistake!), steelorchids, and Meinhiding. You ladies are the best.
> 
> Written for the Karedevil Summer Challenge and Daredevil Continued

Karen could only stare at her phone after disconnecting the call she had just received, still trying to process everything. She had been bored out of her mind in her dentist’s waiting room at her last appointment and had entered to win a free 4 day-3 nights trip for two to Antigua after she had seen an ad while flipping through a magazine. Now, five weeks later she had almost forgotten having entered in the first place. But as the bemused man from StarlightTours she just got off the phone with kept having to explain to her (she had hung up on him the first two times, thinking it was a spam call, then kept repeating ‘are you serious?’ over and over when he finally managed to convince her he was legit), she had, as a matter of fact, won. 

She got up from her desk and started pacing without even realizing it. A trip out of the city sounded...awesome. The firm was just coming off of a brutal case that had kept them working all hours of the day for two months. Luckily their hard work had paid off, but all three of them were totally exhausted. Now the only question was would Matt actually go for it? 

He wasn’t totally opposed to leaving the city. Last summer Marci had invited Matt and Karen to join her and Foggy at her aunt and uncle’s place on Cape Cod for a long weekend. And earlier this year, Karen had to go upstate to try to track down a witness, and she had convinced him to come with her so they could stop off at Niagara Falls on their way home

But would he agree to leaving the country? She sighed, and ran her hands through her hair. Maybe she should just offer the trip to Foggy and Marci; Foggy had just been talking this morning about how Marci had been after him to pick a vacation destination with her now that this case had finally wrapped up. She’d win friend of the year if she gave them this trip. But...it would be so nice to get away for a few days, out of the sweltering heat of Hell’s Kitchen. It might be just as hot in Antigua, but at least they had the ocean. And tropical cocktails. 

She looked up, surprised as Matt entered her office. She hadn’t even heard him coming. Matt closed the door behind him and walked over to her, gently placing his hand on her arm.

“You’ve been pacing for ten minutes. What’s wrong?” he asked, a worried expression on his face. Karen smiled; even though sometimes he overdid it with his mother-hen tendencies, it was adorable that he worried about her so much when just the slightest little thing was wrong. One time she had suffered a small burn on her hand when she spilled some coffee and Matt had run down to Duane Reade and had brought back practically the entire store. Foggy had only been half joking when he expressed surprise he hadn’t called an ambulance.

She grabbed his hand and gave it a small squeeze. 

“Nothing’s wrong. I, uh, won a trip.” she told him.

Matt cocked an eyebrow. “You did? Oh, wait a minute, you actually won that trip to Antigua?”

“I did.”

“Karen, that’s awesome! But wait, why are you pacing?”

“Well”, she paused, not knowing how to broach this. “I’m thinking of having Foggy and Marci go in my-our place.”

A flash of something- (was it actually disappointment?) flashed across Matt’s face. 

“Oh? Why?”

“Um, well, it’s 4 days and 3 nights, and I wasn’t sure whether you’d be comfortable leaving the city for that long, and it’s not like we’d still be in the state, or even in the surrounding area.” 

Matt smiled, and shortened the distance between them. 

“I don’t know, I think a trip sounds pretty good right now” he said softly, leaning in to place a kiss on her nose. 

“Really? You’re really ok with being away for three nights?” she asked.

Matt looked at her, a thoughtful expression on his face. 

“I’ll call Luke or Jessica to see if they’d keep an eye out. But honestly”, he paused, pulling her into his arms, “going away for a few days sounds like heaven.”

Karen smiled, burying her head on his shoulder.

“OK, then Murdock. I guess we’re going to Antigua!”

*************************************

Matt was fidgeting. Karen couldn’t blame him; being on a plane for the first time was an experience in itself, even without supersenses. But Matt looked about ready to jump out of his skin. 

“Is it normal for it to sound like this?” he whispered.

“Like...what?” Karen asked.

“I don’t even know. It sounds...big?”

Karen giggled, having no idea what “big” sounded like.

They hit a tiny bit of turbulence and she had to stop him from taking his oxygen mask out. 

She grabbed his hand, and laced her fingers through his, leaning in to whisper into his ear, hoping to calm him down.

“I promise you, this is totally normal, ok?. If it was an emergency, the masks would come down automatically”. Matt squeezed her hand like he never intended to let go. 

“Hang on, I have the perfect solution.” She used her free hand to rummage through her carry-on bag, pulling out a set of earbuds.

“Here”, she said, handing them to him after plugging them into her phone. She quickly flipped her phone to airplane mode, and started searching grinning, as she pressed play on an episode of The Great British Bake Off 

“OK Murdock, get ready to relax.”

“I’ll relax when I’m on solid ground,'' he grumbled. 

Karen opened her mouth to counter that with all of the jumping off buildings he did, he should at least be somewhat used to being in the air, but she held her tongue. 

“Would you just put these in? Listen to this show, the accents alone will soothe you.”

15 minutes later, she could see her plan had worked. Matt had practically melted into his seat, was breathing at a normal pace, and was even smiling. 

Karen grinned, satisfied with herself.

“Hey, do we have any orange peel at home?” Matt turned to face her, taking one of his earbuds out. 

“Why?”

“Because that chocolate orange cake that won sounds amazing and I will not be able to stop thinking about it.”

Karen laughed, and rolled her eyes, happy he was occupied by something other than the plane. 

*******************

Karen took a deep breath of the sea air as they walked arm in arm around the resort property. It was gorgeous, and she couldn’t stop staring at the palm trees. 

Matt had been really quiet ever since they had arrived, which was making her nervous. Was he already regretting this trip? She knew she wouldn’t fully enjoy herself if Matt was miserable. Should she say something or would that make it worse?

Before she could say anything Matt stopped in his tracks and tugged her hand, indicating he wanted her to stop walking. She turned to face him, bracing for the worst. 

“Karen your heart is going a mile a minute.”, he said, rubbing the inside of her wrist. “Is everything ok?”

She felt her cheeks flush.

“I’m fine, really.”

“What is it?” he asked, gripping her hand tighter. 

“I guess I was just worried that you’re, um- not liking it so far.”

“Why would you think that?” Matt asked her, frowning.

“I don’t know, you’ve just been so quiet, which I know isn’t that unusual for you, but you’ve barely said a word since we got here and I’m just worried you’re not going to have a good time.” 

Matt brought her hand up to his mouth and kissed the inside of her wrist. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you worry. I just...I can’t get over how quiet it is here. It’s amazing. It’s so different from home.”

“Good different?” Karen asked hopefully.

Matt chuckled, and pulled her in for a kiss. 

“Yes, good different.” he murmured, wrapping his arms around her waist. “Listen, I have you all to myself for the next three days, there’s no way I wasn’t going to enjoy this trip, no matter where we went. So no more worrying if I’m enjoying myself, ok? The answer is a definitive ‘yes’. I’m sorry I scared you, I’m just getting a sense of everything”

Karen felt herself blush, and rested her forehead against his. “I love you”, she said softly.

“I love you too. Now let’s find a restaurant. I’m starving.”

Karen smiled, and happily fell into place beside him. 

***********************

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but we’re just standing on a big rock that has water running through it, right?”

“You are correct. But there is no way we weren’t coming to Devil’s Bridge.” Karen said with a giggle. 

“Wait, there are blowholes on this thing?”

Karen looked around, not knowing what he was seeing, but sure enough, water shot out from one of the natural springs.

“OK, Murdock. Stand here. I have to take your picture on your bridge.”

“Oh, it’s my bridge now?” he asked, laughing.

Karen grinned and took a few steps back to take pictures. She was pretty sure he was rolling his eyes at her even though he had his glasses on.

“OK, one more. And you have to do the pose.”

“Karen.”

“Matt. Come on. If not for me, do it for Foggy. He’ll kill me if I don’t get a shot of you with devil horns on Devil’s Bridge.”

Matt let out an exaggerated sigh, but she caught a smirk as he put his hands behind his head, crooking his two index fingers to make horns. It had stemmed from a drunken night at Josie’s after they had been celebrating the end to a case.

Karen took a couple of shots, immediately sending the best one to Foggy, giggling at his immediate response.

“Foggy says to warn you that he’s having this blown up and framed for the office.” she called to him.

**************************

“This was clearly not a good day to go on a marine life tour. We haven’t seen anything.” Karen grumbled as she looked through her binoculars, before taking her seat next to Matt on the boat. The hotel offered whale and dolphin watching tours; Karen had seen a sign as they were going back to their room after dinner last night and had asked Matt if he would go with her. 

Matt had agreed, but hadn’t seemed overly enthusiastic, so she had made a deal with him, they did this today and then tomorrow’s activity would be his choice. He still hadn’t let her know what they would be doing, but it was an offer he couldn’t pass up. 

“Do think you need more sunscreen, or are you good? I brought it with just in case.” Karen looked at Matt, who was sitting very still, his head cocked to the left. 

“Matt, is everything ok?” she asked. Was he able to hear what was going on this far from shore? You could barely see any land from where they were.

“There are whales around here”, he said excitedly, but softly so as not to alert anyone else on the tour who would get their hopes up.

“No way! Wait, how close are they?”

“They’re pretty far out,'' he admitted. “I can just barely hear them, but...it’s beautiful.”

“Are they at least moving this way? Close enough that I can at least see the spray come up from the water?” Karen asked hopefully.

“Doesn’t sound like it.” Matt gave her a sheepish grin.

“Oh well, at least one of us saw whales. Or rather, heard them” Karen teased, nudging his shoulder.

“I’m sorry” 

“No, don’t apologize. That’s so cool. I’m glad you can hear them. It must be magical.”

“It kind of is,” he admitted, ducking his head. He looked up, alert once more. “I hear lots of splashing coming this way. If you look out to the left, you’ll see a pack of dolphins in a few minutes.”

“Oh my God, seriously?” Karen grabbed her binoculars, and hurried to stand by the deck. She didn’t see a thing. 

“I don’t know Murdock, I think-oh my God!” she shrieked, not able to control her excitement as five dolphins approached the boat. They were so beautiful to watch, so quick and graceful. Karen had her back to him, so she couldn’t see Matt beaming at her excitement. After a minute she felt Matt’s arms wrap around her waist, and she leaned against him, humming happily as the dolphins swam past the boat 

*************************************

Karen eagerly turned the page of the thriller she had brought with for their beach day (Matt’s chosen activity was a day spent lounging on the beach. Karen had absolutely no complaints), barely noticing the heavy sigh coming from Matt.

A few pages later though, she felt his hand on her knee, and when he let out another heavy sigh, she reluctantly put her book down.

“You seem awfully stressed for someone lounging in a beach chair listening to music.”

“Oh. I’m not listening to music. It’s the Peterson deposition.”

Karen lowered her sunglasses. “You brought a deposition to listen to on the beach? Matt, vacation means getting away from work.” She purposely did not mention that she had briefly, briefly considered bringing a file of a potential new Nelson Murdock and Page client who needed some investigative work done. She had ultimately decided against it, so no need to share that particular tidbit. 

“I know, I just thought if I was at the beach it wouldn’t be quite so boring to listen to.”

“And?”

“It’s somehow even more boring.”

Karen laughed, picking up her book again. 

“So, what are you reading?”, he asked, his thumb tracing little patterns on her knee. 

“That new thriller everyone’s talking about. And I have to admit, I can see why. It’s totally gripping.”

“Hmmm. Sounds good.”

“It is. Very good.”

“Would you um, mind reading it? Out loud, I mean, obviously.” Matt’s cheeks were bright red, and something melted inside Karen.

She leaned over and kissed him.

“Of course. You’re lucky I’m only 30 pages in, Murdock. If I had been halfway through, no way in hell would I have started over”, she teased him, knowing that if that had been the case, she probably would have.

Matt grinned, and settled against her, sighing happily as she started reading from the beginning. 

********************************

Karen pulled the key card to their room out of her purse, and opened the door, grinning as Matt started kissing her neck. This was their last night in Antigua, so they had made sure to take their time at dinner, enjoying every last bite, and they had each had a couple of glasses of wine. 

“Oh Matt, look, Starlight left us a parting gift basket. We each get a t-shirt. And there/s a bottle opener, oven mit, and keychains. And a voucher for ten percent off if we book our next vacation through them.”

“Mmmm”, Matt murmured, his attention never straying far from her neck.

Karen grinned, tugging him along as she went to close the curtains to the balcony.

“Oh my God, Matt. The moon is huge! I didn’t know it could get that big”, she giggled, thinking she sounded like a little kid, but it was true. She had never seen it look so big in the night sky before. And over the water...it was breathtaking. 

She grabbed Matt’s arm, guiding it with her own, tracing the moon. “I know you can tell from the light it’s giving off”, she said softly, but it’s just so beautiful”, she said with a dreamy sigh, dropping his arm. 

Matt turned her around to face him, and without a word, kissed her passionately. Karen melted against him before they stumbled over to the bed.

**************************************

Karen noticed Matt’s knee shaking and reached over to grab his hand, lacing their fingers together in an attempt to calm him. She suspected his jumpiness was only partly due to getting back on a plane, and mostly anxiousness to get back into routine. 

“Are you meeting up with Jessica later?” she asked softly. It had been Jessica who had grudgingly agreed to watch over Hell’s Kitchen in Matt’s absence; they had texted while they had grabbed a quick breakfast before the shuttle came to take them to the airport.

Matt nodded. “Yeah, it shouldn’t take long, she said she’ll give me the rundown.”

Karen squeezed his hand. “Happy to be going home?” she asked.

“Yes,” Matt admitted.

“Me too.” Karen told him, resting her head on his shoulder. “It was so nice to get away for a few days though.”

“Mmmm. I wholeheartedly agree, Miss Page.”

Karen looked up at him “I’m glad to hear that. I mean, I know you enjoyed yourself, but I know it must have been different being so far from home.”

“Very true. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t appreciate leaving for a few days. In fact…”, he said, leaning in to kiss her forehead, “I wouldn’t mind doing this kind of thing more often.”

“Oh really, Mr. Murdock? I guess I should start entering as many giveaways for a free trip as I can find, huh?”

Matt laughed. “Maybe we should start a list of places we want to go to? People do that, right?”

Karen smiled. He was so adorable sometimes she couldn’t take it.

“Sounds good.” sShe laid her head back on his shoulder.

“Karen?” Matt asked after a few minutes.

“Hmmm?”

“Can we watch that British cooking show again?”

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Ingrid Michaelson's "Far Away"


End file.
